Gruffalo Granny
Today we had the joy of joining a livestream event through the British Library. We joined author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler as they invited us into their ‘Gruffalo world’. The event started with Julia Donaldson dressing up and reciting the original Gruffalo story. Her enthusiasm along with the characters’ costumes had us all hooked.
After the lovely performance, Julia introduced the next addition to the Gruffalo trilogy. She read aloud Gruffalo Granny and we were all bewitched. We hung from her every word and we all thoroughly enjoyed the story.
Axel Scheffler then talked us through his illustration of Gruffalo Granny. He told us how she has some of the same characteristics as the Gruffalo but how some are different because she is older. Her drooping ears, red prickles and grey fur are all due to old age. He draws with such ease – it was so impressive!
First week in Reception
Our Reception children have settled in so beautifully and are doing a fantastic job getting to know their new classroom, routines and friends. It’s been wonderful to see how much more confident and comfortable they’re becoming each day!
From Monday 14 September, we’d like to encourage the children to start coming into the classroom independently, as they’re now becoming familiar with the morning routine. This is a lovely next step in helping them to build their confidence, independence and sense of responsibility.
We really appreciate your support with this and know that, together, we can help the children feel proud and confident as they begin their mornings independently. If you ever have any questions, concerns or would simply like to have a chat, please don’t hesitate to speak to us, the door is always open and we’re happy to help.
Here we are exploring our outdoor learning space. We have been looking for objects in our nature areas, riding bikes, gymnastics and playing games.
All children need a pair of wellies leaving at school so they can access the grass area year round.
We have had a little taster of our P.E. sessions this week!
Just a reminder that we will be doing a short P.E. session every day in Reception. The children will not be getting changed for P.E., so please ensure they come to school wearing suitable school uniform and comfortable footwear.
Help at home: Practise undoing buttons, taking off jumpers and putting shoes on and off. These are important skills in children’s development and make a huge difference to their independence.
Thank you for a wonderful first week and all your support.
Graduating from 1A
What a fantastic year we have had. It has gone so quickly. It feels like only yesterday I was welcoming the children into their new class and now the year is over.
We’ve had a brilliant week of celebrations and talking about our favourite memories from this year.
Thank you so much to my wonderful class for trying your best everyday, being super resilient and for putting a smile on my face each day. I am so proud of each and every one of you, look at what you have achieved this year. You should be so proud!
I hope everybody has a fantastic summer break. Best of luck in your new classes. You are going to be amazing in Year 2.
From Miss Young x
Snail and The Whale
Snail and The Whale
This week we have been sharing this much loved Julia Donaldson story. The children have been retelling the story and we have been discussing the rich vocabulary.
Help at home: You could share some other Julia Donaldson stories together or watch the Snail And The Whale animation on BBC iPlayer. Can your child explain the events in the story and why they happen? This helps with comprehension when reading.
Sports Day
A big well done to all Reception children who took part in their very first Sports Roundabout Sports Day. They practised so many key sport skills from throwing and catching, jumping, team work, hand-eye coordination to running. Everyone participated so well – and in front of such a large audience too.
We practise all these skills daily in our outdoor area too…
Transition
The transition into KS1 has started 🙂 Wednesday morning was full of excitement and a few little nerves, as the children visited their year one classrooms and spent some time with their new teachers. When they returned to class, the children were excited to share what they had been doing. Those little nerves had flown away and in their place was a super positivity for the big move in September. Well done Reception superstars! We will visit KS1 a few more times before the end of the year.
Ziggy and Buddy
Ziggy and Buddy are taking their last journeys of the year. They have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the children’s homes and getting up to all sorts of fun. Thank you for engaging with this activity this year – the children value sharing their experiences so much!
A busy week
We have really enjoyed reading our story this week. When we read it we noticed that the rhythm sounds like a train moving down the tracks. We used our props to re tell the story, listening to the rhythm and rhyme.
We made a map too.
In the paint we looked at the tracks on the wheels of our toy cars. Some of them had very different patterns on them some stripey, some zig zagged. We used them to create printings. This helped to develop our arm strength for writing.
We also did some investigation into force. We made our own ramp from wooden planks to send our trucks down. We found out that the higher the planks went the faster the truck moved.
Thank you to all of the parents from Red, Blue and Yellow Group who attended the New Parents meeting on Wednesday. If you didn’t manage to attend, don’t worry, please collect your information pack from the office as it contains your child’s start date and transition into school.
We will be starting our transition soon as the Reception teachers will be visiting Nursery to share a story and then we will visit the classrooms. Exciting times ahead.
We hope that you all have a happy and healthy weekend.
The Night Pirates
Our book this week is The Night Pirates by Peter Harris. We have been reading the story and talking about the different vocabulary. Next we will draw a story map and use it to retell the story.
Here is some of the pirate provision that has enhanced our learning this week.
For our writing challenge we wrote about what we’d done in the half term. Here are some examples;
This week, we introduced the children to Rekenreks. We continued to develop our subitising skills by using our “fast eyes” to quickly identify the number of beads shown. Rekenreks help children explore the structure of small numbers and build confidence in recognising quantities without counting.
We learnt that all of the beads should start on the right-hand side. This is known as the ‘ready position’. The children practised using the ‘pause (think), place (one finger), push (the beads)’ method. We always make sure we’re only using one finger when carefully pushing the beads.
Getting ready for Year One
We are now in Summer 2 and starting to think about transition into Year One. To help prepare children, we’d like parents/carers to encourage children to come into school independently and wave bye to them at the waving window.
We know there are a few children already doing this, which is great for developing independence.
Having said this, please know that our door will continue to be open to you for chats and if your child wants to show you their learning.
Thank you for your support.
The Train Ride
We finished last term with a very exciting week focused on learning how to stay safe. The children took responsibility for keeping our outdoor area safe by carrying out their own daily safety checks and placing cones around any areas they identified as unsafe. They practised crossing the road safely using our very own zebra crossing and discussed how to stay safe near water during visits to the park. To round off the week, we were delighted to welcome a fire engine and its crew for a special visit. What a fantastic week of learning and fun!
This term promises to be just as exciting as we approach the end of our Nursery year. We will begin our learning with a book about a train ride, which will inspire lots of discussion.
Book of the Fortnight
The Train Ride by June Crebbin
Through this story, we will be thinking about journeys we have been on and sharing our own experiences. In the construction area, the children will have opportunities to design and build their own vehicles. We will also be investigating forces by creating tracks and ramps, exploring how objects move and finding out what makes them go faster or slower.
Phonics
Over the next few weeks, the Red, Blue and Yellow groups will be focusing on oral segmenting and blending skills during group time. This is when we break words down into individual sounds and learn how to blend them together.
Oral segmenting and blending is an important skill for children to acquire before they begin the more formal teaching of phonics in Reception. We practise segmenting and blending the sounds we can hear in words; we do not expect children to recognise, read or write letters in Nursery.
This skill can be quite challenging and may take some time for children to master. It will continue to be taught throughout the Foundation Stage.
For example, to segment the word bus, we would say:
b – u – s
We always use pure sounds and try to avoid putting an “uh” sound on the end of a letter sound. For example, we say “ssss” rather than “suh”.
If you would like any support with helping your child practise these skills at home, please speak to a member of the Nursery team.
Nursery Rhyme of the Week
In Maths, we are learning about day and night and discussing the differences between them. The children will be exploring what happens at different times of the day and thinking about the activities they do in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Next week, we will move on to ordering key events in our daily routines, helping children to develop their understanding of time and sequence.
Help at Home
Talk to your child about day and night. What activities do people do during the day and at night? Can they talk about what they do in the morning, afternoon and evening? Looking at family routines together and discussing the order of daily events is a great way to reinforce this learning.
Reminders
As the weather becomes warmer, please refer to our guidance regarding sun cream. Please ensure that your child comes to Nursery each day with a named sunhat and water bottle so that they can stay safe, hydrated and comfortable while enjoying outdoor learning.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions about your child’s learning, please speak to a member of the Nursery team.
Year 1 Maths
Year 1 have been busy this week, measuring things in and around the classroom.
We began our learning with measuring using non-standard units such as cubes.
‘Length is how long something is, from start to finish.’
‘Height is how tall something is, from the bottom to the top.’
We also used centimetres to measure small objects in our classrooms.
After this, we used rulers to measure objects accurately.
We need to line the object up with the end of the ruler, keep it straight and measure to the closest centimetre.
Help at home by making good estimations about how many centimetres long or tall, household objects are.
What we will be learning – Safety Week
This week, we will be joining in with school’s safety themed week. We’ll be learning all about staying safe in lots of different situations.
The children will be helping us to carry out our daily risk assessments both inside and outside Nursery. We will be asking questions like Is the gate closed? Are the steps to the slide slippery? Are any of the toys broken?
Talking about sun safety.
Role playing crossing the road safely on our bike track.
Spotting dangers in the home.
Finding out about our emergency services.
Look out for some photos later this week.
Reminders
Nursery will close on Thursday 21 May for the half term holiday.
We will return for our final term on Monday 01 June.